Door control



Filed June 27, 1952 W. M. M NERLAND DOOR CONTROL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.2

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. o 20 6 24 34 a 4 -28 f William M. MacNer/and IN VEN TOR.

May 1, 1956 w. M. M NERLAND DOOR CONTROL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 27,1952 amaze VW WW William M. MacNer/and INVENTOR.

WW fi wm mm United States Patent noon CONTROL William M. MacNerland,Chicago, iii. Application June 27,1952, Serial No. 295,868

12 Claims. c1. 16--51) The present invention relates to door closing andchecking devices and more particularly relates to an improved doorclosing and checking device of the type having hydraulic means forchecking the closing movement of a door.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a closing and checkingdevice of the above mentioned type that utilizes a novel tube and fluidreservoir arrangement eliminating the necessity for packing glands andpreventing loss of the hydraulic fluid.

.Another object of the invention ancillary to the primary object is toprovide a door closing and checking device of the hydraulic typeutilizing a hydraulic cylinder having angularly related sections wherebythe hydraulic fluid reservoir may be vertically disposed and which mayoperate without a needlevalve or piston packing.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a door closingand checking device of the hydraulic type having a novel means forcontrolling the action of the hydraulic cylinder piston.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a doorclosing and checking device of the hydraulic type wherein the doorclosing or tensioning means are disposed exteriorly of the devicewhereby this means can be adjusted, removed and replaced without tools.

A final object of the present invention to be mentioned specifically isthe provision of a practical and efiicient means for positively closinga door and checking the closing movement of the door to prevent slammingof the same.

Various other features and objects of the present invention, notspecifically mentioned hereinabove, will become apparent from thefollowing description with reference to the accompanying drawings,wherein:

Figure lis a side view of the door closing and check ing device mountedin operative position on a door and door frame;

Figure 2 is a top view of the door closing and checking device mountedin its operative position taken substantially along section line 2-2 ofFigure l;

Figure 3 is a top view of the door closing and checking device mountedfor operation similar to Figure 2 but showing the door in open position;

Figure 4' is an enlarged side view in section of the door closing andchecking device showing the arrangement of the elements of the device inits closed position;

Figure 5 is a side view with parts being shown in section similar toFigure 4 but showing the arrangement of the elements when the deviceisin open position;

Figure 6 is a sectional view of a portion of the device takensubstantially along section line 6-6 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is an enlarged sectional view of another portion of the devicetaken substantially along section line 7--7 of Figure 5; and

Figure 8 is an enlarged side view of the hydraulic fluid reservoir and aportion of the hydraulic cylinder with parts being shown in section ofthe device showing the ports in the hydraulic cylinder.

Referring now more specifically to the accompanying drawings whereinlike numerals are used to designate like parts throughout thespecification, attention is firstdirected to Figures 1-3 wherein thenumeral 10 designates the door closing and checking device in itsentirety, the numeral 12 indicates a door frame, and the numeral 14indicates a door mounted for swinging movement on the frame 12.

The door closing and checking device 10 comprises generally a hydrauliccylinder 16 in the form of an L-shaped tube having angularly relatedsections 18 and 20 with section 18 forming a vertically extendingportion or inner end and section 20 forming a horizontally extendingportion or outer end. Secured to and concentrically surrounding section18 of the cylinder 16 is a hydraulic fluid reservoir 22. A horizontalarm 24 is secured at one end to cylinder 16 adjacent the junction ofsections 18 and 20. Depending from the free end of arm 24 is a pin 26.The free end of the arm 24 is provided with an internally threaded bore25 (Fig. 4) and the pin 26 has a threaded end 27 received in this bore.An actuating nut 29 is threaded on the end 27 of pin 26 and seatsagainst the free end, of arm 24, rotation of the nut 29 extending orretracting the pin 26 to vary the distance of the cylinder 16 from thedoor jamb.

A bracket 28 is mounted on the door frame 12 adjacent the hinged side ofthe door 14. Pin 26 is rotatably received in an aperture (unnumbered) ofbracket 28 whereby the hydraulic cylinder 16 is horizontally swingableabout the bracket 23.

Slidably disposed in the horizontal portion of the tube 16 is a plungerrod 30 having a free end 32 extending longitudinally exteriorly of thetube. An L-shaped bracket 34- is adjustably secured to the free end 32of the plunger rod 30 and interconnects the end of the plunger rod withthe door 14. Closing or tensioning means in the form of coil spring 36concentrically surrounds a I portion of tube section 20 and theexteriorly extending portion of plunger rod 30. One end of the coilspring 36 is attached to bracket 34 as at 38 and theother end of thecoil spring 36 is attached to an adjustable clamping ring 40, which ringis slidably disposed on section 20 of the cylinder 16.

With reference to Figures 2 and 3, the utility of the tensioning means36 in theoperation of the door closing and checking device 10 will beclearly apparent. As the hydraulic cylinder 16 and its associated fluidreservoir 22 are swung horizontally about the bracket 28 upon opening ofthe door 14, the plunger 30, by virtue of its connection to the bracket34, secured to the door 14, will be longitudinally extended from thesection 20 of the cylinder 16. When this longitudinal extension occurs,the coil spring 36 will be tensioned to a much greater degree than whenthe door 14 is in its closed position as shown in Figure 2. Thus, whenthe door 14 is released from its opening position as shown in Figure 3,the coil spring 36 will tend to return the plunger rod 30 within thesection 20 of the cylinder 16.

Referring now to Figures 4-8, the internal construction and variousother constructional details not fully explained above may be clearlyobserved.

Slidably disposed within section 18 of the tube 16 is a piston 42 havinga boss 44 thereon. A plunger head 46 having a boss 48 thereon is securedto the end of plunger rod 30 disposed within the horizontal section 20of the cylinder 16. Resilient means in the form of coil spring 50 isinterposed between plunger head 46 and piston 42 within the cylinder 16and has its ends threaded on bosses 48 and 44 to cause simultaneous butvaried speed movement between the plunger rod 30 and the piston 42. Itis this novel arrangement between plunger rod 30, piston 42 andresilient means 50 that permits the hydraulic cylinder 16 to beL-shaped, whereby the fluid reservoir 22 may be vertically disposedeliminating the necessity for packing glands and a needle valve checkarrangement.

To check the closing of the door 14, longitudinally spaced ports 52, 54and 56 are provided in the wall of vertical portion 18 of the cylinder16 to communicate the interior of the cylinder with the fluid reservoir22. As will be noted in Figure 8 of the drawings, the lowermost port 52comprises a narrow, elongated slot while the central port 54 and theupper port 56 consist of circular apertures with the diameter ofaperture 56 being slightly greater than that of aperture 54. It is to benoted that while the rectangularly slotted and circular configurationsof the ports are the preferred configurations, they may be of othershapes, since their basic utility, as will become apparent, lies in thefact that they. are of progressively greater size.

When the reservoir 22 is filled with oil 58 or other hydraulic fluid, asshown in Figure 4, this fluid 58 will flow into theinterior of section18 of the tube 16 through the ports 52, 54, and 56. Thus, when thedevice is in its closed or inoperative position, as shown in thisfigure, the piston 44 will be disposed adjacent the lower end of section18 of the cylinder 16. When the device 10 is in its open or operativeposition, as evidenced in Figure 5, the piston 42 will be disposed atthe upper end of section 18 adjacent the top of the fluid reservoir 22.As the piston 42 rises in section 18, the volume of fluid will bedisplaced from section 18 into the reservoir 22 due to the openings orports 54 and 56, and the closing spring 36 will be tensioned and resistopening of the door. As the tension in spring 36 is decreased by closingthe door, piston 42 slides toward the bottom of the section 18, thedisplacement of the fluid from the section 18 into the reservoir 22 willbecome progressively harder due to the progressively smaller openings56, 54 and 52. By this arrangement, it can be seen that as the door isclosed and piston 42 slides toward the bottom of the section 18, theresistance to the downward movement of the piston 42 becomesprogressively greater thereby slowing down the inward movement of theplunger rod 30 within the section of the cylinder 16 and consequentlyslowing the closing action of the door.

To adjustably secure the free end 32 of the plunger rod 30 to thebracket 34, this free end 30 is threaded and thumb screws 60 and 62 arethreaded thereon with the bracket 34 being secured therebetween.

To permit easy adjustability of the tension on spring 36, the clampingring 40 need only be biased from its clamping position on the section 20of the tube 16 and moved to another selected position. To permit suchreleasable clamping action, the clamping ring 40 is provided with anopening 62 of greater diameter than the outer diameter of cylinder 16and includes a peripheral lug 64 disposed angularly to the major planethereof. The end 68 of the tensioning spring 36 is secured to the lug64. 'Thus, when the end 68 of the tensioning spring 36 is secured to thelug 64, the ring 40 will be pulled into angular relationship with thesection 20 and will accordingly bite into the wall thereof and therebybe clamped in place.

Thus it will be seen that three means for varying the closing speed ofthe door are provided, the first being the adjustable pin 26 and arm 24,the second being the adjustable connection of the plunger rod 30 to thebracket 34 and the third being the adjustment provided by the ring 40connected to the closing spring 36.

To guide the plunger rod concentrically within the section 20 of thetube 16, a plug 70 closes the end of section 20. Further, the plug 70 isprovided with a central aperture 72 through which the plunger rod isslidably guided.

To prevent slamming of the plunger head 46 against the plug 70, a coilspring 74 concentrically surrounds the plunger rod 30 and is interposedbetween plug and plunger head 43.

Although not clearly appearing in the drawings since the door control isshown only in completely open and closed position, the spring 50 isloosely wound adjacent piston 42 and closely wound adjacent plunger head46 whereby the initial door-closing shock is absorbed by the hydraulicfluid.

Further, the door closing speed of the door control will remainsubstantially constant regardless of temperature changes sincetemperature changes decreasing or increasing the viscosity of thehydraulic fluid will likewise cause spring 50 and plunger rod 30 toexpand or contract whereby the degree of closing of port 54 is correspondingly varied.

From the foregoing description, it is believed that the construction andoperation of the door closing device will be clearly apparent. However,since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art after a perusal of the foregoing description and theaccompanying drawings, it is not desired to limit the invention to theexact construction shown and described and all suitable modificationsandchanges may be resorted to falling within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. A door closing and checking device comprising a fluid reservoir, atube having an inner end disposed in said reservoir and having an outerend disposed eXteriorly thereof, the inner end of said tube havinglongitudinally spaced openings therein communicating the interior of thetube with the fluid reservoir, a piston slidable within the inner end ofsaid tube, a plunger rod slidable within the outer end of said tube andhaving a free end extending exteriorly of saidtube, resilient means insaid tube interconnecting said plunger rod and said piston, mountingmeans adjustably connected to thefree end of said plunger rod forattaching saidv rod to a door, means for attaching said tube to a doorframe and adjustable tensioning means mounted exteriorly of said tubeinterconnecting said tube and saidmounting means, said tensioning meansurging said plunger rod toward said piston whereby the piston willdisplace fluid within the tube, said tube being substantially L-shaped,said inner and outer ends of said tube being angulated with respect toone another, said adjustable tensioning means comprising a stop elementconcentrically surrounding said tube, a coil springconcentricallyrsurrounding said tube and being connected at one end tosaid stopelement and at its other end to said mounting means.

2. A door closing and checking device comprising a fluid reservoir, atube having an inner end disposed in said reservoir and having-an outerend disposed exteriorly thereof, the inner end of. said tube havinglongitudinally spaced openings therein communicating the interior of thetube with the fluid reservoir, 3. piston slidable within the inner endof said tube, a plunger rod slidable within the outer end of said tubeand having a freeend extending exteriorly of said tube, resilient meansin said tube interconnecting said plunger rod and said piston, mountingmeans adjustably connected to the free end of saidplunger rod forattaching said rod to a door, means for attaching said tube to a doorframe and adjustable tensioning means mounted exteriorly of said tubeinterconnecting said tube and said mounting means, said tensioning meansurging said plunger rod toward said piston whereby the piston willdisplace fluid within the tube, said tube being substantially L- shaped,said inner and outer ends of said tube being angulated with respect toone another, said adjustable tensioning means comprising a coil springconcentrically surrounding said tube and having one end thereofconnected to said mounting means, a washer element concentricallysurrounding said tube, the other end of said coil spring beingattachedto one edge of said washer element whereby the element willfrictionallyabutthe wall of the tube.

3. A door closing and checking device comprising an L-shaped tubeincluding vertical and horizontal portions, a fluid reservoir mounted onand concentrically surrounding said vertical portion, a piston slidablydisposed in said vertical portionand a plunger rod slidably disposed insaid horizontal portion and having a free end terminating exteriorlythereof, resilient means interconnecting said plunger rod and saidpiston, the vertical portion of said tube having ports thereincommunicating the interior of the tube with the fluid reservoir wherebymovement of the piston displaces fluid in the tube, tensioning meansconcentrically surrounding the horizontal portion of said tube and beingconnected at one end to said free end of said plunger rod for urging therod toward the piston, and adjustable means clamping the other end ofsaid tensioning means on said tube.

4. A door closing and checking device comprising an L-shaped tubeincluding vertical and horizontal portions, a fluid reservoir mounted onand concentrically surrounding said vertical portion, a piston slidablydisposed in said vertical portion and a plunger rod slidably disposed insaid horizontal portion and having a free end terminating exteriorlythereof, resilient means interconnecting said plunger rod and saidpiston, the vertical portion of said tube having ports thereincommunicating the interior of the tube with the fluid reservoir wherebymovement of the piston displaces fluid in the tube, tensioning meansconcentrically surrounding the horizontal portion of said tube and beingconnected at one end to said free end of said plunger rod for urging therod toward the piston, and adjustable means clamping the other end ofsaid tensioning means on said tube, said ports being of diflerent sizesto vary the resistance encountered by the piston in displacing fluidfrom the tube as the plunger rod is urged toward the piston.

5. A door closing and checking device comprising an L-shaped tubeincluding vertical and horizontal portions, a fluid reservoir mounted onand concentrically surrounding said vertical portion, a piston slidablydisposed in said vertical portion and a plunger rod slidably disposed insaid horizontal portion and having a free end terminating exteriorlythereof, resilient means interconnecting said plunger rod and saidpiston, the vertical portion of said tube having ports thereincommunicating the interior of the tube with the fluid reservoir wherebymovement of the piston displaces fluid in the tube, tensioning meansconcentrically surrounding the horizontal portion of said tube and beingconnected at one end to said free end of said plunger rod for urging therod toward the piston, adjustable means clamping the other end of saidtensioning means on said tube, and a bracket adjustably secured to saidfree end of said plunger rod, said tensioning means comprising a coilspring having one end thereof secured to said bracket.

6. A door closing and checking device comprising an L-shaped tubeincluding vertical and horizontal portions, a fluid reservoir mounted onand concentrically surrounding said vertical portion, a piston slidablydisposed in said vertical portion and a plunger rod slidably disposed insaid horizontal portion and having a free end terminating exteriorlythereof, resilient means interconnecting said plunger rod and saidpiston, the vertical portion of said tube having ports thereincommunicating the interior of the tube with the fluid reservoir wherebymovement of the piston displaces fluid in the tube, tensioning meansconcentrically surrounding the horizontal portion of said tube and beingconnected at one end to said free end of said plunger rod for urging therod toward the piston, adjustable means clamping the other end of saidtensioning means on said tube, a plunger head on said plunger rodengaging said resilient means, and yielding means surrounding saidplunger rod and contacting the end of the horizontal portion of saidtube for opposing withdrawal of the plunger rod from said tube.

7. A door closing and checking device comprising an elongated,substantially L-shaped tube having first and second angularly relatedlegs, a sliding piston within the first leg of the tube for displacingfluid Within the leg, a plunger rod slidably disposed within the secondleg of the tube and having an inner end disposed Within said second legand an outer end projecting forwardly exteriorly of said second leg, ahead on the inner end of said plunger rod centering the rod within thesecond leg of the tube, closure means on the free end of said second leghaving a central aperture therein through which the plunger rod slidablypasses, a coil spring disposed within said tube interconnecting saidplunger head and said piston and urging the same toward one another, andattaching means connected to said outer end of said plunger rod foradjustably securing the same to a door and mounting means on said tubefor securing the same to a door frame.

8. The combination of claim 7 including cushioning means disposedbetween said plunger head and said closure means within said tube.

9. A door closing and checking device including a tube comprising firstand second legs angularly related to one another, means closing the endsof said tube, a plunger rod slidably disposed in said second leg andprojecting exteriorly thereof for attachment to a door, a pistonslidably disposed in said first leg for displacing fluid Within the legupon inward and outward movement of the plunger rod, and resilient meansWithin said tube connecting said piston and plunger rod for cooperatingmovement toward and away from one another during the operation of thedevice.

10. A door closing and checking device including a tube comprising firstand second legs angularly related to one another, means closing the endsof said tube, a plunger rod slidably disposed in said second leg andprojecting exteriorly thereof for attachment to a door, a pistonslidably disposed in said first leg for displacing fluid within the legupon inward and outward movement of the plunger rod, and resilient meanswithin said tube connecting said piston and plunger rod for cooperatingmovement toward and away from one another during the operation of thedevice, said first leg having fluid by-pass ports therealong and meansfor returning by-passed fluid to said first leg.

11. A door closing and checking device comprising a tubular housingincluding a vertically disposed first section and a second sectionangularly related thereto, mounting means on said housing for securingthe same to a door frame, and door closing and checking means carried bysaid housing, said door closing and checking means including a dashpotassembly carried by said first housing section, a plunger assemblycarried by said second housing section, and resilient meansinterconnecting said assemblies whereby they move toward and away fromone another during the operation of the device.

12. A door closing and checking device comprising a tubular housingincluding a vertically disposed first section and a second sectionangularly related thereto, mounting means on said housing for securingthe same to a door frame, and door closing and checking means carried bysaid housing, said door closing and checking means including a dashpotassembly carried by said first housing section, a plunger assemblycarried by said second housing section, and resilient means Within saidhousing interconnecting said assemblies, said dashpot assembly includinga piston slidably disposed in said first section, said resilient meanswithin said housing interconnecting said piston and plunger assembly forcooperative movement movement toward and away from one another duringthe operation of the device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,091,904 Baumann Aug. 31, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 61,707 Denmark Dec. 13,1943 171,409 Germany Sept. 25, 1905

